Jerry opened up by promoting his upcoming appearance at Dutchess Stadium in Wappingers Falls, NY next Sunday July 13th. The King will be signing autographs, mingling with fans and throwing out the first pitch from 6pm-8pm. He encouraged fans who have a copy of his book to bring it with them as he will be more then happy to personally autograph it. Jerry closed out the opening segment by discussing his love of baseball especially his beloved Cleveland Indians

He said that while the WWE schedule may be difficult for many it's not for him since he only has to work RAW and a few other on-sale events and house shows when requested by the company. When told that someone in a higher place in the company must have a special place in their heart for the King he responded by saying "someone someplace feels that way about The King and that's fine by me".

He believes that the company has turned the corner since WrestleMania. He feels the writing team's main concern should be to plan out some long term programs and fans should have the patience to let them develop. He feels if angles don't work right away they could be great down the road but they need to be given a fair chance. He also talked about those who work in the company needing to have thick skin when it comes to criticism because no matter they do there will always be people who don't like certain things. He feels that the talent, the writers and even management have very tough jobs because on one hand it's easy to react to negativity yet on the other hand if they believe strongly in what they're working on they need to be able to withstand some initial backlash. He said that the one thing he dislikes is when critics who have a difference of opinion on a particular issue take it personally as if someone in the company tried to book a bad match or storyline. He said everyone in the company would love for ratings to be high and business to be great yet sometimes things hit and sometimes they miss.

He feels the change of Kane's character was long overdue and anytime people are talking about something whether it be good or bad, it's good publicity. He said that he's pretty sure that Kane himself and the writing team both agreed that it was time for a new direction and if it doesn't pan out down the road they can always change things up again.

Jerry said he hasn't really had a chance to get to know Bill Goldberg during his time in the company. He said he's very cordial but usually keeps to himself unless he has family with him. He said he feels that the talk about people backstage having a problem with Bill are very exaggerated.

We spoke with him about his famous Andy Kaufman angle and the shock value it provided. Jerry said that he and Andy Kaufman were very surprised that their angle went over as big as it did. He noted that he was once told by someone that it was the most famous wrestling match of all time and while he wasn't sure if he agreed or not with the statement, he did say that when you think about the fact that the match garnered attention from the David Letterman show and Saturday Night Live and a movie was made from it and the angle is still frequently profiled on A & E it's hard to think of another match or angle that had such an impact. He closed the statement by saying that it was the best thing to happen to his career.

When asked about one thing he could change in the business today, he said he'd like to see things less scripted. He feels that matches are too planned out and the boys aren't given enough freedom to have fun during a match. He pointed out that if someone misses a spot they could be lost for the whole match and while he understands why the business is so concerned with planning things out, he also feels it prevents some talents from being able to showcase their true talents. He gave an example of talents not being able to work with and against the crowd as much and feels it's a small thing yet the one thing he wishes was different.

Jerry closed out the interview by talking about his future in the business. He said he doesn't have a timetable set for when he will leave the business. He said he feels very fortunate to be doing something he loves to do and having the opportunity to be paid to do it. He said when you have that much love for something it's hard to imagine stopping. He feels he tries hard to put guys over and as long as he can remain entertaining to the wrestling audience he will stay as involved as he possibly can.

he's right. wrestling is too scripted. i know that sometimes wrestlers go out there and "make-up" matches, so to speak, which is more entertaining, but when it is completely planned out, it gets kinda boring.

I've felt for the last few years that wrestling in the big time was way to scripted which is why I am appealed to watch mlw, lucha, puro and nwa compared to the wwe. Nice to see someone like Lawler speaking out on the issue.

He's right when he talks about ppl being patient and watching the fueds happen. Personally, I didn't care about the Test/Steiner fued, but towards the end it got pretty good and was entertained by it. Specially for a mid card fued. It's a good sign and shows that giving the storys more time to build is going to make a better product.

He's wrong when he talks about being to scripted. In his day it was punch, punch, eye gouge. It's easy to improvise that, but now with so many high risk moves, guys need to know what's going on and how to set things up to make each other look good. Also, guys still play off the crowd, Rock does it, Y2J does it, and a couple other, but most of the talent seems to want to get in all their moves first, and the story comes second. That's something that the wrestlers need to work on.

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No offense EXO, as you and I see pretty clearly on a lot of wrestling events but how can you say in his day it was punch , punch, eye gouge? Have you seen any of his cwf, awa or mid south work? I don't recall a lot of that stuff and those were some of the greatest matches compared to todays standards of lock up, rope whip, and then back and forth. Now days someone dominates the match in the beginning and loses at the end.

Back then it was back and forth and you never knew. That's my opinion.

^yeah, but they were grounded attacks. There were moments ala Jimmy Snuka, but for the most part, the pace was much slower, the match more methodical. The pace now doesn't allow for that kind of improve.

I understand what you mean as far as the outcome being in question and playing to the audience, and I think that's a valid problem. And we see it a lot where guys don't change things up or take advantage of a hot crowd, but the problem then is in allowing the crowd to control a match too much. Hmm, not too sure how to explain...

I guess the difference is that athletism and move list now is so much higher, and guys spots are so important, that they need to have much of it scripted out to keep them safe and you have to loose something, and that something is following the crowd too closely.

ah yes, wasn't this the reason Hogan quit...

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See that's the biggest problem right now in wrestling, is everything is about spot work i.e. the nwa, though they have a lot more wrestling then the wwe which is primarily known now for their spots and bad angles and lack of story planning.

Originally posted by Dãrk~Ångël No offense EXO, as you and I see pretty clearly on a lot of wrestling events but how can you say in his day it was punch , punch, eye gouge? Have you seen any of his cwf, awa or mid south work? I don't recall a lot of that stuff and those were some of the greatest matches compared to todays standards of lock up, rope whip, and then back and forth. Now days someone dominates the match in the beginning and loses at the end.

Back then it was back and forth and you never knew. That's my opinion.

I have to agree with ya. I can remember going to the old Midsouth shows
(yeh I am that old,lol) back then they still had a plan as to what was gonna happen but when the wrestlers went into the ring they done there on thing,in other words there was really no script for how the match was to be played out only who would win. It was so much better back then because the wrestlers had more control over what they were gonna do in the match. Of course this was still when pro-wrestling was still called a sport and not the soapopra that it is today.Thats one thing thats very wrong with it today,the wrestlers have lost control and ever thing is a script.

^^^ Exactly. I mean I remember when saturday night or saturday morning nwa would start up. They'd show you clips of a house show incident every weekend and the show would always end on a cliff hanger and you'd have to tune in the next week to see what happened. But now days it's more all about the circus/entertainment atmosphere. The mystique and suspense is now gone and everythings all hollywoodized and it's all about the script. BTW, nice to see your posts again after all this time *yeah i'm blind sue me lol*. I never venture into this forum very often.

^^^ Exactly. I mean I remember when saturday night or saturday morning nwa would start up. They'd show you clips of a house show incident every weekend and the show would always end on a cliff hanger and you'd have to tune in the next week to see what happened. But now days it's more all about the circus/entertainment atmosphere. The mystique and suspense is now gone and everythings all hollywoodized and it's all about the script. BTW, nice to see your posts again after all this time *yeah i'm blind sue me lol*. I never venture into this forum very often.